The present invention is directed to a method for operating a machine in the graphics industry using a computer.
According to the current state of technological development, machines in the graphics industry work in accordance with a defined operating scheme, so that for every print job, certain adjustments or inputs are required by an operator of the machine. This applies to all machines in the graphics industry, such as computer-to-plate image setters and raster-image processors in the pre-press stage, printing presses, folding machines, and packaging machines, as well as to other post press operations for printed products. Each print job normally passes through three stations: pre-press, press, and post press. In the process, the print job is either described in a conventional job docket or it is routed as an electronic file, as a type of virtual job docket, through each of the processing stations. Depending on the print job, the operator must then make the necessary adjustments or enter the requisite settings for the print job at each of the machines, and if necessary, after producing a specimen print, correct these adjustments, so that the printed product ultimately corresponds to the printing copy preselected by the customer.
This procedure is rather time-consuming and necessitates an in-depth understanding of printing technology on the part of the operator, since the operator must select characteristics for the inking system of a printing press and make further adjustments. In particular, the numerous settings of a printing press overtax personnel who have not been trained as printers. In the graphics industry, the time factor also plays a role that cannot be underestimated, so that time-consuming resetting operations between two print jobs, as are typically required for the most part at the present time, represent a considerable disadvantage with respect to the economic efficiency of the machines that are used.
It is known from other sectors of industry to further automate the control of production processes. A method from this area of automation engineering is known from the German Application no. DE 199 35 318 A1. The application describes the automation of a manufacturing system using a plurality of machines which process work pieces. The machines are assigned individual machine controls, which are also provided with so-called operational control agents for transmitting appropriate control commands to the machine controls. In this context, a generally known operator interface, such as a keyboard and a monitor, is simulated by software, and instead of input signals being transmitted by an operator, the signals are relayed by the operational control agents to the machine control. In accordance with the description of the application, each workpiece to be processed is overseen by a so-called workpiece agent, which has stored the individual production processes used in the processing of the particular workpiece, and which supervises the work pieces. The workpiece agent then makes sure that the appropriate processing operations are carried out at the processing stations in question. To that end, the workpiece agents communicate with the particular machine agents, so that there is no need for the operator to intervene, and the production system is run as an automated system.
However, the usefulness of a machine agent or workpiece agent, as described in the application discussed above, is not immediately evident for machines used in the graphics industry. The greatest distinction is that it is, in fact, typical of print jobs in the graphics industry for the most important job data to be described or stored in a job docket. However, additional data still need to be input by the operator into the control computer of a printing press. These additional data are often input by the operator typically on the basis of the experience of the operator.